Scotland 2012

Flying up from Birmingham airport to Inverness is so easy. We left home at 11am and we were having tea in Tony & Jude's kitchen by 5pm feeling relaxed and fighting fit. We don't think we would have felt this way if we had driven all the way which takes nearly 9 hours non stop and we don't think we could drive for that length of time without stops, Steve's bladder certainly couldn't.

Tony & Jude's House

This was our third visit to Tony & Jude but the previous visits were associated with our time spent at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. This time we stayed for a week and relied on them to transport us around and entertain us.

We also had lots of questions about their house so that we could pick up some hints and tips when it comes to developing our own new home.

Duffus Castle

The Highlands of Scotland are truly beautiful with superb scenery and blood curdling history. We visited Duffus Castle which was really well maintained and the signage boards kept us informed as we wandered around the historic site.

Large parts of the building had slipped down the original earthworks but it was still a fascinating place.

Jets into Lossiemouth

Duffus Castle overlooks the flight path of the jets flying into RAF Lossiemouth. The Tornados were on a training exercise whilst we were visiting the castle and Steve was fascinated by their constant fly pasts, not quite close enough to see the names of the pilots on their flying suits but still very close.

It reminded us of when we were at college near Darlington. It was located next to Teesside Airport and they used to undertake commercial flight training so the pilots would do touch and go landings throughout the day and often at night. We guess that the training is done on a flight simulator these days to cut down on costs but not for the RAF they do it for real.

Gorse

The Highlands were in gorse blossom at this time of the year and the lower hillsides were covered with beautiful gorse blossom with the heady smell of coconut.

No matter whether we were walking, along the coast or in the hills, gorse was everywhere.

Whisky Flasks

This was our first visit to a whisky distillery and it was an excellent choice because it was Glenfiddich, probably Steve's favourite whisky. The free tour was fascinating and the hour long walk around the distillery went so quickly but it could have been the heady atmosphere that just obscured time.

Jane isn't a whisky drinker but she also found the tour interesting.

Steve having a snifter

How could you go on a whisky tour without having a taste. Glenfiddich are very good because they give you three samples - 10; 12; and 15 year old. With Jane not being a whisky drinker and Tony driving it was left to Steve to act as the taster.

Bearing in mind this was before lunchtime even Steve took it steady and refused to finish all the drinks. You would think with a nose the size of his he wouldn't need to stick it into the glass to get a sniff but his sense of smell isn't good.

After a lot of sniffing and slurping Steve settled on the 15 year old as his favourite with subtle flavours and not too harsh on the back of the throat. He walked, a little unsteadily, out of the visitor centre with almost a visible warm glow around him in the icy conditions.

On a coastal walk

Tony & Jude don't live to far away from Findhorn and the Moray Firth to we had to make the most of the sunny days by going for walks along the coast and beaches.

As you can see from the photo we're not wearing coats and the sun is shining into our eyes. Look even closer and you can see that Jane has pulled Steve's jumper tighter to show of his pot belly. Perhaps she's trying to shame him into losing some weight.

All Together Now

To commemorate the week we set up the camera to take a photo of us together. It was a bit fiddly to set up and Tony grew impatient so he's not looking at the camera in this photo and in the next photo taken he was looking away completely so all you saw was the back of his head. We think that when he was a youngster he may have had ADHD.

We all look relaxed and happy because we are.

Findhorn Estuary

The River Findhorn estuary is unusual in that it initially opens out and then squeezes through a spit before entering the North Sea. This funnelling of the river and the tidal effect makes it very turbulent water although this is not too apparent in the photograph.

It isn't a piece of water you would want to cross in a small boat unless you had a great deal of confidence, or is that stupidity?

Classic Car Rally

As we were waiting to take off for the day Tony noticed a number of classic cars passing the gate and before long Steve was able to capture this Jaguar motoring past with it's roof down as a clear indication of the pleasant weather we were experiencing.

Having said the weather was good enough to have the roof down, Steve had a rule that he would take the roof down on the TT or the Boxster if the sun was shining and the temperature was above 10 degrees Celsius.

Planting Potatoes

Somebody else with ADHD is Jane. She finds it impossible to sit and relax, it just isn't in her nature. So one evening she took responsibility for digging a potato trench and planting out a couple of rows.

We just hope Tony & Jude have a good crop.

The soil was certainly a lot lighter and easier to dig than our heavy clay that we have here in Northamptonshire.

Relaxing in the sunshine

And of course Jane was bound to catch the rest of us drinking tea with our shoes off and feet up. This particular afternoon the sun was really warm achieving 21 degrees Celsius.

We were in for a shock the next day when the sun denied us a visit, the temperatures plummeted to about 5 degrees and it actually snowed. Thankfully it didn't settle but it was quite a shock to the system. Talk about getting all the seasons in one week, this is so true of the Highlands of Scotland.

Jane Outside Sea Cave

One of our coastal walks took us up hill and down dale until we finished down in this lovely cove with sea hewn caves. Jane walked through from the sunny side towards the sea and into the shade.

This is a really lovely coast line and if circumstances were different we may even consider moving to this part of the world. With caution and realism we do know that a place is different when on holiday to when you live there all the time. We'll continue to treat Scotland as a holiday destination for the time being.

Cawdor Castle

Cawdor Castle is the famed castle as depicted in Shakespeare's Macbeth and this photograph captures some of the feeling surrounding the place.

While we were there we came across a small group of Russians who had arrived in a specially chartered helicopter and were getting an official tour from Lady Cawdor herself. There's a recent history behind the inheritance of the castle and it now belongs to the Countess who is Czech and the dead lords second wife. The children from his first marriage seem to have been in dispute with her since the will was published in 1997. Some say it is the modern equivalent of Macbeth. Some people just love to make life complicated.

Wall Oddments

Whilst wandering around the Findhorn Foundation or Hippie drome as Steve likes to call it, we saw this delightful wall of oddments. There are bricks, tiles, slates, pottery plant pots and all sorts making a wall where plants can grow and insects can make homes. Jane had noticed that Jude had created her own recycled wall in their garden which looked really effective.

We intend to make our own wall similar to this with some of the "rubbish" we've got lying around the garden and we'll make a posting once we complete the work, but don't hold your breath because we no longer work quickly on garden projects.

The Pig Yard